Choose your own beautiful

Choose your own beautiful

It is undeniable that the topics of beauty and body image are thrust into our lives daily, whether we realise it all the time or not. It may be the fashion magazines as we walk by our local newsagent, bill boards emblazoned with beautiful people seen on our drive to work or our friend touting the latest weight loss program offering a ‘quick fix’. More often than not, we grow accustomed to this barrage of daily reminders about what society and our peers view as universally beautiful – what the ideal size of our body parts should be, how long our hair should be this season, which clothing label will make us look more successful.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for personal betterment, emotionally, mentally and also physically. I just believe in creating my own ideals of beauty, taking bits and pieces from that daily barrage and fine tuning it to suit my life, my lifestyle and my own personal beliefs on beauty. Our body image is our attitude – how we see ourselves, how we think and feel about the way we look and how we think others perceive us. And there’s a lot to navigate around to develop this healthy image and in turn consider ourselves beautiful.

So back to that fashion magazine in the newsagent – I love flicking through it! For me I love being inspired by new trends and checking out the creativity behind the fashion industry. I just ignore the articles titled ‘how to achieve the ideal summer body’ and ignore the excessive photoshopping and take the parts that appeal and apply to me.

Same goes for that billboard with the gorgeous model selling makeup. To me, the best part of her makeup is the smile she’s wearing. To me, that’s something important I connect with about my image. I’m not interested in the latest eye shadow colour or how to accentuate my cheekbones but I do value a great smile and straight teeth.

As for those quick fix diet pills that friend is touting, I much prefer clean eating, regular exercise and limiting my stress levels for maintaining the health of my body. But each to their own! To me, it comes down to working out what is important to my own well-being as a whole – emotionally, mentally and physically. It is essential to filter these inevitable outside influences and develop my own ideals to suit me individually. This in turn creates the best possible version of myself, against my own scale and my unique ideals, and therefore creating someone inherently beautiful.